Prime Minister's Office
English rendering of PM’s address at 1st Convocation of Rashtriya Raksha University in Gujarat
Governor of Gujarat Acharya Devvrat ji, Home Minister Shri Amit Shah, Chief Minister Shri Bhupendra Patel, Vice-Chancellor of Rashtriya Raksha University Vimal Patel ji, officers, teachers, university students, parents, other excellencies, ladies and gentlemen!
It is a special pleasure for me to come to Rashtriya Raksha University. For the youth who want to make a career in the field of defence, it is not just about uniform and club, it is very wide. And the well-trained manpower in this field is the need of the hour. The Rashtriya Raksha University was born with the vision of developing our systems according to the challenges of the 21st century in the field of defence and also evolving the people handling those systems. Initially, it was known as Raksha Shakti University in Gujarat. Later, the Government of India recognized it as an important university for the entire country. Today it is a kind of nation's gift, the jewel of the country, which will create new confidence for the security of the nation through deliberations, education and training in the time to come. Today, I extend my best wishes to the students who are graduating from here and their family members.
Today is another auspicious occasion. Dandi Yatra was started from this land on this day for the Salt Satyagraha. The British government realized the collective power of Indians through the movement under the leadership of Gandhiji against the injustice of the British. I pay respectful tributes to all the Satyagrahis and the brave freedom fighters who participated in the Dandi Yatra as we celebrate 75 years of independence.
Friends,
Today is an important day for students, teachers and parents, but it is also a memorable occasion for me. As Amitbhai was saying this university was born with this imagination and I have brainstormed and interacted with many experts for a long time. We studied the happenings around the world in this direction, and as a result, a small form took shape on the soil of Gujarat. We find that the domain of defence during the British era was generally a part of the law and order routine system in the country. Therefore, the British recruited sturdy people who could run their empire through the use of force. At times the British chose people from different racial masses, their work was to use stick as force against the people of India so that they could continue their rule easily. There was a need for reforms and radical changes in this field after independence. But unfortunately, we lagged behind in this field. As a result, there continues to be a general perception to stay away from the police force.
Uniform is worn by army as well. But what is the perception of the army? People find an end to the crisis whenever they see the army. This is the perception of the army. Therefore, it is very important to prepare such manpower in the security field in India which should generate a feeling of friendship and trust in the mind of the common man. There was a great need to change our entire training module. This experiment was done for the first time in India after long deliberations and today it has evolved in the form of the Rashtriya Raksha University.
Gone are the days when security meant uniform, power, force, pistols, etc. There are now many new challenges in the field of defence. Earlier, it would take hours for the news of an incident to travel to the farthest part of a village and a day to the next village. By the time the state would get to know about the incident, it would take 24 to 48 hours. Only then, the police could swing into action and control the situation. Today the communication happens in a fraction of a second.
In such a situation, it is not possible to move forward by concentrating arrangements in one place. Therefore, every unit needs expertise, capability and the same amount of force. Only then can we control the situation. More than the numeric strength, what is needed is trained manpower who can handle everything, who knows and follows technology and also understands the human psyche. They should also know how to communicate with the young generation, should have the capacity to deal with leaders during mass movements and should have the ability to negotiate.
In the absence of trained manpower in the sphere of security, one can lose the ability to negotiate and sometimes the favorable situation can take an awful turn because of one wrong word. What I want to say is that we should develop such human resources which are able to deal sternly with the anti-social elements while being soft towards the society in keeping with the democratic systems and considering the people’s welfare as paramount. We often find news regarding the good image of police from different parts of the world. But the misfortune of our country is that if a film is made then the policemen are portrayed in a very bad light. It is same with the newspapers. As a result, genuine stories do not reach society sometimes. Of late, there were many videos of police personnel in uniform serving the needy during the Corona period going viral due to social media. A policeman coming out at night and feeding the hungry or policemen delivering medicines to those who ran out of medicines due to lockdown! A humane face of the police which emerged during the Corona period is now gradually on the wane.
It is not that everything has come to a stop. But due to a perceived narrative and a negative environment, sometimes even those who want to do something good feel dejected. All of you young people have set about in such an adverse environment. Your parents have sent you here with the expectation of protecting the rights and security of the common man and maintaining an atmosphere of peace, unity and harmony in society. You have to ensure a role for yourself so that every individual can lead his life with happiness and that society can celebrate festivals with joy and pride. The physical strength to serve the country can be true to an extent for security forces, but this field has expanded and therefore we need trained manpower.
In today's era, families have become smaller. Earlier during joint families, mother, father, grandparents, cousins, elder brothers and sisters-in-law could take care of the house if a tired policeman would return home after long duty hours. He would feel relaxed and was able to join duty the next day. Today, it is an era of micro families. Today a jawan works for 6 to 16 hours a day and under very adverse conditions. But when he returns home, there is nobody at home, no one to ask of him, no parents.
In such a situation, stress is a major challenge for our security forces. A jawan is always stressed due to family and work-related problems. Therefore, it has become necessary for stress-free activities in the security forces. We need trainers for that. This Raksha University can prepare such trainers who can keep the people in uniform in good humor.
Today, there is a need for a large number of teachers in yoga and relaxation activities in the army and police as well. This scope will now also come under the defence sector.
Similarly, technology is a huge challenge. And I have seen that in the absence of expertise we are not able to do what we should do on time and things get delayed. Just as there are issues of cyber security and the way technology is increasing in crime, similarly, technology is helping in detecting crimes. In earlier times, if a theft happened somewhere, it would take a long time to catch the thief. But today there are CCTV cameras. It is very easy now to trace the movement of a person by going through the footage of the CCTV cameras and use of artificial intelligence and he gets caught.
As the criminal world is using technology, similarly technology has become a very powerful weapon for the security forces as well. But the right weapon in the hands of the right people and the ability to do the job at the right time is not possible without training. During your case studies, you must have found how criminals use technology in carrying out crimes and how those crimes were detected through the use of technology.
The physical training and early morning parades are not enough in the field of defence now. Sometimes I feel that despite being physically unfit my Divyang brothers and sisters can contribute in the defence field after receiving training from Raksha University. The scope has changed vastly. This Raksha University should go in the direction of developing systems suited to that scope.
As the Home Minister just said that Gandhinagar is becoming very vibrant from the point of view of education. We have so many universities here and there are two specific universities that are only of their kind in the world. There is no forensic science university or children's university anywhere in the world, except in Gandhinagar in India which boasts of these two universities.
Similarly, the National Law University encompasses everything from crime detection to justice. But the results will accrue only if these three universities don’t work in silos. If the Rashtriya Raksha University, the Forensic Science University and the National Law University go on their own, then desired results will not happen.
Today when I am amongst you, I want to request all the officials to have a common symposium of students and faculty of all the three universities after every three months in a year and come out with a new model to strengthen the security of the nation. The children of the National Law University will have to study how forensic science will be useful for justice.
Those studying crime detection will have to see which evidence should be put under which section so that they can get technical support from the Forensic Science University and legal support from the National Law University to ensure punishment for criminals and protect the country. When the judicial system is able to deliver justice on time and punish the criminals, then an atmosphere of fear is created among the criminals.
I would also prefer Raksha University to prepare students who should be well-versed with the prison systems. How to modernize the jail systems, how to utilize prisoners or undertrials by understanding their psyche, how should they come out of the world of crimes, under what circumstances did they commit the crimes, etc? There must be such an aspect in Raksha University as well.
Can we prepare such students who should have the expertise to reform the prisoners, change the prison environment, can attend to the psyche of the prisoners and make them better persons when they step out of jail? It requires able human resources. For example, if somebody in the police department who is tasked with the law and order is suddenly asked to take care of the jails. He is not trained in it. He has been trained to handle criminals. But it doesn't work like that. I believe that the domains have increased and we need to make efforts for all of them in this direction.
Today I have got the opportunity to inaugurate a grand building of the Raksha University. When we were in the process of identifying the place for this university, there were many questions and pressures. Everyone used to say why you are doing this and that too at such a faraway place. But I was of the opinion that if one has to travel 25-50 km away from Gandhinagar, it does not lessen the importance of the university. If the university has potential, it can become the hub of Gandhinagar and after seeing the building today I think a beginning has been made.
The responsibility for the upkeep of this building does not lie with a contractor or with the government budget. The building can be splendid if every occupant considers it as its own and maintains every wall, window or furniture and works for its improvement.
When IIM was formed in Ahmedabad about 50 years ago, its campus was considered a model in India. Later, when the National Law University was built, people from all over India were attracted to it. I firmly believe that this Raksha University Campus will also become a reason of attraction for the people in the days to come. The campus of Raksha University is another gem to the already existing campuses of the IITs, Energy University, National Law University and Forensic Science University. I congratulate all of you for this.
I would call upon the meritorious students of society not to consider it inferior. It has a huge scope to serve the country. Similarly, the people who have come here, our police personnel and home ministry should not be mistaken in considering it to be a police university. It is a defence university that prepares manpower for the defence of entire country. The students graduating from here will go to different fields. They will be experts who will have the expertise in deciding the nutrition of the defence personnel. There will be many experts involved in developing software against crimes. It is not necessary that they should be somebody in uniform, by working together they can give much better results. With this spirit, we are moving forward in the progress of this university.
We have plans to expand Forensic Science University and Raksha University in the country. Many students have the desire to become sportspersons, doctors, or engineers since childhood. Even though there is a section that has negative feelings towards the uniform, I am sure if the uniformed forces work hard while respecting human values, we can change this perception and instill confidence in the common man. Today there is an unprecedented growth in the private security sector. There are many start-ups that are working only in the field of defence. Your training also invites you to enter the world of such new start-ups.
At a time when the youth of the country are giving priority to the defence of the country, there is another important aspect which we need to understand. Like I said in the beginning negotiation is an art. Good negotiators become only after proper training. Negotiators are very useful at the global level. Gradually, you can progress to becoming a global-level negotiator.
I believe this too is a great necessity in society. Similarly, if you have not studied mob psychology, crowd psychology in a scientific way, you cannot handle it. Through Raksha University, we want to prepare people who can handle such situations. We have to prepare a dedicated workforce at every level to protect the country. I hope we all will work together in that direction.
I extend my best wishes to the students who have completed their studies. But I would like to tell them not to make the mistake of entertaining any thoughts that the world would be in your hands once you donned the uniform. This does not enhance the respect towards the uniform. The respect of the uniform increases when humanity is alive in it and there is a sense of compassion and you have the desire to do something for the mothers, sisters, downtrodden, oppressed and exploited. Therefore friends, we have to consider the values of humanity as paramount in life. We have to resolve to connect the sense of belongingness that is there in society towards the forces. Therefore, I want that the influence of uniform should be there, but there should be no absence of humanity. If our young generation moves in this direction with this spirit, we will get great results.
It is a pleasure for me, I did not count while I was honoring some students but my first impression is, that the number of daughters was probably higher. This means that we have a large number of daughters in the police fleet. A large number of daughters are coming forward. Not only this, our daughters are moving forward in the army in important positions. Similarly, I have seen that a large number of daughters are joining the NCC also. Today the Government of India has also expanded the scope of NCC. You can contribute a lot by handling the NCC in frontier schools.
The Government of India has also made a very important decision regarding the admission of daughters in Sainik Schools. We have seen that there is no area of life where our daughters do not play an effective role and this is their strength. Whether it is securing victory in the Olympics, science and education, the number of daughters is much higher. I am sure that our daughters will also dominate in the field of defence and it will be very reassuring for our mothers and sisters. We have taken an important initiative and it is the responsibility of the first batch to make it successful.
I would like to present before you two incidents of Gujarat as to how important a change can this university bring, how important a change can a human resource development institute bring. A long time ago, the moneylenders from Ahmedabad, the eminent people of the society and the business class decided that there should be a pharmacy college in Gujarat. A pharmacy college was formed 50 years ago. A modest college was built then. But today if Gujarat leads in the pharmaceutical industry, then its origin lies in that small pharmacy college. The boys who graduated from that college later helped make Gujarat a hub of the pharmaceutical industry. Today, the world acknowledges India as a hub of pharma following Corona period. However, this started at a small college.
Similarly, Ahmedabad IIM is not a university and does not offer a degree course. It is not accredited to any university and it offers certificate courses. When it started, people would probably wonder what would happen with a six-eight-twelve-month certificate course. But IIM made such a reputation and today most of the CEOs in the world have graduated from IIM.
Friends, I can see the potential of a university in this Raksha University which will change the picture of the entire defence sector of India, will change the outlook of defence and will create new opportunities for our young generation. With this full confidence comes a greater responsibility of the first generation. The responsibility of the students of the first convocation becomes even more. Therefore, I say that those who have enriched themselves from this university and are getting farewell in the first convocation should enhance the prestige of this Raksha University. This should be the mantra of your life. You should motivate the promising youth, the sons and daughters to come forward in this field. They will be inspired by you. You can play a big role in society.
If you accomplish this task, then I believe that such a journey has started in the Amrit Mahotsav of independence that when the country celebrates hundred years of independence, then the identity of the defence sector would be different and the perspective of people towards the defence sector would have changed. And the common citizen of the country, whether he is the sentinel on the border, or the watchman of your locality, everyone will see how both the society and the system are working together to protect the country. When the country celebrates 100 years of its independence, then we would be standing with that strength. With this belief, I extend my best wishes to all the youth. I also extend my best wishes to their family members.
Many thanks!
DISCLAIMER: This is the approximate translation of PM’s speech. Original speech was delivered in Hindi.